Lesson 5

Advertising for dummies

In this lesson, we learnt about the elements of advertisement.

Here are the 5 common elements of print advertisements:
1. Headline:
The first words the audience reads on an ad. Usually in larger font and is unique to the product.

2. Image:
A graphic which can be in the form of a drawing, photograph, illustration that is designed to affect the audience with a purpose to appeal to them.

3. Copy:
Text of the ad where claims are made and facts stated with the intention of persuading the audience to buy or be interested in the product.

4. Slogan: 
Motivating and empowering catchphrase that evokes in the audience a positive feeling about the company and product.

5. Logo:
A symbol that is unique to the company which allows audience to identify the company visually.

Out of these 5 elements, I feel that the logo and headline are the most important. The headline is the first text that the audience reads which should capture their attention, making them want to know more about the product, and the logo is the company's identity and allows for quick recognition of the company by the audience so that they will know where to get the product. 

Here is an example of a bad ad. There is no slogan or logo. Not having a slogan is still alright, but without a logo, audiences will not be able to identify the company easily! There is also no image except for a monkey holding a cup of alcohol which is a poor representation of what they sell. Not to mention that it doesn't help with affecting the audience with the intention of appealing to them. The whole ad is full of copy, making it cram and hard for the audience to derive information from it. Moreover, we can barely say that there is a headline as there are no larger text which will draw the audiences' eyes to and they would have to look at all the text to get an idea of what the company is selling. This makes the ad a very non-attention-grabbing ad and people will not dwell to look at it for long. Thus this is a bad advertisement.